Could you survive on 1k?

[coffeeanteac]

If you had £1000 left after the main bills.

Could you survive on £1000 for food amd petrol and everything else takeaways, gifts, fun.

DH thinks most families couldn't. I think it should be ok. There are only 3 of us and we all live about three miles away from work and school.

It was reading the threads recently where most people thought £1900 was poor. I had showed him those threads too. to be fair, I remember those threads!!

Rather early for a stealth boast

A few people are saying they couldn't. This is the worry.

We obviously understand we won't starve but are wondering if we would be comfortable

Yes - absolutely.

We have £10 a week left after all our bills so £40 a month. To have £1000 would be amazing

For those saying we spend 800/1000 on groceries, if you had to manage on less you really would, how do you think ppl on much lower incomes manage?

No. There’s 4 of us plus lots of animals. And commuting costs are hundreds.

It's not a stealth boast. The OP read Mumsnet recent threads saying they couldn't survive on £1900 leftover per month

She's right to worry if that's what she has read.

Bit early for being an ass!

I think thats the point too. Everything is just so expensive now.

Even Aldi shop was over £100.

Yes!!!

There was a similar post the other day.

we have a very good income. Would be cockahoop to have £1,000 left every month!

Could do but wouldn't want to. Prefer to earn more money than cut back - cut backs only save you so much, money earning potential is (theoretically) unlimited.

As you can see just from the answers already, it depends what you term as “bills”. This is my list:

Mortgage
Council tax
Gas/electricity
Water
Broadband
TV licence/sky/Netflix
Mobile phones
Savings
Insurances
Service charge

Then food, pet food and diesel on top of that. Anything leftover is a miracle bonus.

We do it on £800 a month. I genuinely feel quite wealthy to have that.

How much is your monthly food shop op?

Varies depending on cat food but usually £100 minimum.
And your fuel costs?
Not too bad would say max £20 a week if that.
Do you get take away or eat out?
Yes probably too much
When you say gifts do you mean for your family for birthdays etc?
Yes and a teenager.
What about vehicle maintenance ?is that already covered?
No noy covered insurance is and tax though.

Do you have an emergency fund if an appliance goes wrong or a tyre blows?
Nope again the worry.
Our food monthly is around £700 and fuel around £300 so it wouldn't work for us at all but everyone's circumstances are different

Yes, quite nicely I should think.
We have £600 a month for food, diesel and everything else although you should understand that when I say "everything else", there's not an awful lot of else.

We obviously understand we won't starve but are wondering if we would be comfortable

But that's not the same question.

You 'won't starve', which is good.

However, you won't be able to spend without thinking so need to prioritise.

But what other people think isn't especially useful. Everyone has different expectations. All you can do is make sure you make your money go as far as possible (reduce your spending on essentials where possible (there's always a deal to be had on things like phones, broadband, TV), be sensible about grocery shopping (despite what MN claims, endless imported fruit is not a basic essential) and prioritise according to what you consider important.

Always be mindful of what is good value to you - eg eating out, days out, takeaways, clothes, activities etc.

Not meant to be hurtful. It was just a question really. Some posters are said they couldn't.
I should have said in pp I appuwe are incredibly luckily to even have this.

Goodness yes, £1000 I'd be rolling in it. That's my entire wage for the month 😅

It would be doable for us but not comfortable. We budget £1600 a month for food, fun and petrol. What's his reason for saying this? Do you both work?

No because we spend £700 ish on food and £200 ish on fuel per month, there wouldn’t be much left over for fun things.

AFTER bills? I reckon most would be fine. Currently our spend is more as food alone is costing me about £1000 but there are 5 of us & i could & would cut back if we could. In the early days of just dd when i became a sahm my husband earned less than half he does now & we struggled but we got by.

We couldn’t - family of 5 but dc are 11-15 so practically adult portions. We rarely eat out etc but there’s always sneaky extras - school trips, school revision books, dance show etc.

on paper £250 should be fine per week but in reality we can’t. Thankfully we don’t have to but I’m trying to fill the savings back up after a big expense (new kitchen) so have been trying to be careful.

I think this is a but much, it’s a question in a chat forum. Yes her husband and her are both ignorant and far removed from reality but no one is kicking anyone in the teeth.

Yes but there is nothing if things go wrong

This month I've had an exhaust, a dog and a microwave need £840 worth of extra input

So yes, £1000 does not allow for much savings and no holidays or very much going wrong

We have a bit less than a £1000 and we've had to put all of the above on a credit card meaning that then reduces the monthly available - this all creates extra anxiety because it's a never ending circle of 'something going wrong and having to be paid for'

I have literally lived like this for 20 years - with the worry that something will go wrong and I can't cover it. And there have been times when it's happened. We've not been abroad for 19 years, not had a new car for 18, I've never been able to afford a pension

So I would say our disposable income looks doable on paper but the every day reality of living means that we've been 'just about managing' with periods of not managing at all and crying with anxiety - like when one of my children broke their leg abroad and I had to drive to get them £600 in tolls and petrol (with of course the constant worry while driving to the Alps that my 17 years at the time car would break down !)

Yes we could. It actually sounds a lot to me. We spend about that on groceries, petrol, holidays, things for the house like carpet cleaning, car repairs etc etc.

Our household income is on the high side, but we choose to save a lot and have nearly got enough to pay off our mortgage and we aren't 40 yet, (although it is a small house / starter home type place). That's my goal. I don't want expensive holidays etc. Our cars are always secondhand and mine is very cheap to run and we don't go abroad on holiday as we try to avoid paying for flights. It's our choice and a lot of people might think it's a miserable way to live but I really done find it to be